states more accountable and the united states is not just going to get its way as a matter of course in requests from egypt to do various things and carry washington's water in the middle east like mubarek did. host: our guest is steve cook, you can send us an e-mail, c-span.org or join us on twitter, c-span/wj, news of the morning, we've been following this war in syria, which has an civil war, and how serious is it, and what, if anything, can the u.s. do? guest: well, i don't think that it being an all out civil war is actually news. we've been in a civil war situation in syria for quite some time now. it is an unfair fight, and syrian activists and opposition will say that it was a war that was forced upon them by the regime, that this is not a classic case of brother fighting brother. it's the regime's use of overall force, left with no choice to respond. but this is a horrific, tragic situation in which many people are going to die. there was a time when i believed that the united states could intervene in a constructive way. now that we are in an all out civil war, it is a ques